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The treatment of Later Romaic clothing and its terminology in currently available costume books is characterised by utter distortion. The bulk of material on the WWW is very much worse. Even the Latin terminology is used in ways that have only a tenuous resemblance to primary sources, and no account is taken of the fact that Greek was the dominant language of most of the Roman Empire throughout its history, and had completed its take over of even elite literature and government by the sixth century. Through Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages the language itself changed. New words were assimiliated and some old words and usages adapted. The pictorial art that people who research dress superficially rely upon so much largely masks these changes, for the most sumptuous aristocratic art (that is the art that has been normally selected by Art Historians for reproduction) was conventionally constrained to a greater or lesser degree of stylisation. Thus, by the tenth century both the clothing and the terminology was very different from what is commonly believed today.
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This outfit is predominantly based upon pictoral sources of the eleventh century, with reference to tenth century literary sources.1 The ensemble consists primarily of a delmatikion (dress) and esoforion (chemise), a propoloma (hat) and vilarion (headscarf).
(Run your mouse over the picture for full-length front and back views of the outfit.)
In the Earlier Roman Empire the dalmatika was a tunic with wide sleeves worn by any of the sexes (men, women and eunuchs). Originally this simply meant that the sleeves did not taper to the wrist. From the fourth century the term was adapted into Greek as delmatikh / delmatiki and later delmatikion / delmatikion (plural=delmatikia). Near the end of Late Antiquity both the garments and terminology began to evolve in different directions. The term kolobion / kolovion, originally a sleeveless tunic, supplanted delmatikion for the male garment which coninued in the old form. Women’s delmatikia, in contrast, continued with the name and began to develop wider sleeves. Initially this meant only a modest flare. That style continued through into the eleventh century, but by the tenth century the height of fashion for women of the high aristocracy decreed a large drop of almost three-quarters of a metre at the cuff. These trends were imitated by fashion in Europe leading to the wing-sleeve dresses which are such a well known feature of western aristocratic women’s clothing in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries. A close-fitting round neck was the original form of this dress and that style carried through. This v-neck with lapels and back-flap came to be the height of fashion no later than the early eleventh century, possibly based upon a Persian style known to have existed in the tenth century.2
The standing collar was a unique characteristic of Roman eswforia / esoforia (shirts and chemises) introduced no later than the late tenth century.
The term propolwma / propoloma originally designated the padded headroll seen on sources like the Empress and ladies mosaic in St. Vitale, Ravenna. In the tenth and eleventh century it seems to have been transfered to these extravagant hats.
Again, from the tenth century or a little earlier, bhlarion / vilarion supplanted maforion / maphorion as the name for the headscarf, with the older term remaining in use to denote a particular stylised form used as formal court regalia.3
This sort of outfit would rarely have been seen outside private quarters, but should it be so, it would be covered with a half-circle cloak broached centre-front called a manduaV / mandyas or mantion / mantion. (See the page entitled “A Typical Outfit”.)
Embroidery by Edith Castro to a pattern and design by Timothy Dawson. Construction by Timothy Dawson